Blake and Granollers-Pujol reach Houston final

HOUSTON (Reuters) - Top seed James Blake cruised into the final of the U.S Clay Court Championship with a 6-3 7-6 victory over Spaniard Oscar Hernandez on Saturday.

The world number eight, seeking his 11th ATP title, Blake swept through the opening set before clinching the tiebreak in the second 7-3 to wrap up the win in 95 minutes.

In Sunday's final, Blake will face another Spaniard in Marcel Granollers-Pujol, who came from a set down to beat American Wayne Odesnik 3-6 7-5 6-3 in Saturday's first semi-final.

Seventh-seeded Granollers-Pujol, ranked 84th in the world, sealed victory in two hours 14 minutes to reach his first ATP final.

The 22-year-old was outplayed in the opening set by his 117th-ranked opponent and saved a match point on serve in the second before taking control.

Trailing 5-3, the Spaniard held serve before breaking the South Africa-born left-hander in the 10th game.

Granollers-Pujol, who reached his first ATP quarter-final earlier this season in Acapulco, edged ahead 6-5 before again breaking Odesnik to level the match.

Sensing victory, Granollers-Pujol broke in the fourth game of the final set to lead 3-1 before wrapping up the match by holding serve in the ninth game.

(Writing by Mark Lamport-Stokes in Los Angeles; Editing by Ken Ferris and Greg Stutchbury)